The bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) originated in Mexico and the neighboring areas of Central America. Today, pepper plants can be found growing wild in tropical areas around the world. Soon after Columbus's discovery of this plant, it was grown worldwide and used as a spice and a medicine. Pepper is grown as a crop in many countries; hot peppers are generally grown in Latin America and China, while the United States prefers bell peppers. Peppers are used for both fresh consumption, and for processing into powders, sauces, and salsas. Many of the new cultivars grown today can be traced back to the early plants.
The genus Capsicum and species annuum includes most of the peppers grown in the United States. These can be further grouped into two broad categories: chile peppers which are pungent (hot) and sweet peppers which are non-pungent (mild). The United States produces four percent of the world's capsicum peppers (chile peppers and sweet peppers), ranking sixth behind China, Mexico, Turkey, Spain and Nigeria. Bell peppers are the most common sweet pepper and are found in virtually every retail produce department. While peppers are grown commercially in most states, the U.S. pepper industry is largely concentrated in California and Florida, which together accounted for 78% of output in 2000. New Jersey, Georgia, and North Carolina round out the top five producing states (Economic Research Service, USDA, Vegetables and Melons Outlook/VGS-288/Dec. 14, 2001).
Bell peppers are eaten raw, cooked, immature and mature. Often nutritional content is altered by the changes in the way they are consumed. Bell peppers are an excellent source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and Calcium. Mature red peppers have more of these qualities than the immature green peppers.
Peppers grown in temperate regions are herbaceous annuals, but are herbaceous perennials in regions where temperatures do not drop below freezing. Pepper plants' growth habit may be prostrate, compact, or erect, but it is determinate in that after it produces nine to eleven leaves a single stem terminates in flowers. These flowers then become the edible fleshy fruit for which these plants are grown. For fruit to set, the ovaries need to be fertilized. Auxin is then produced by the seeds, which determine fruit cell elongation. The number of seeds fertilized determines the size and shape of the fruit. The seeds develop on the interior and attach to the veins, and fully developed seed is kidney shaped. Pepper fruits are non-climacteric, which means they do not produce ethylene and need to stay on the vine to continue the ripening process. A deep taproot will form if the plant root system is uninjured during transplanting. The spindle root will develop fibrous secondary root systems spreading laterally and downward. On the soil surface the stem will produce adventitious roots, but not as easily as tomatoes. The leaves of the pepper plant arise singly and are simple, entire, and asymmetrical. Typical of all solanaceous plants, the leaves are arranged alternately on the stem. They are shiny and glabrous and vary in shape from broadly ovate to ovate lanceolate. The flowers develop singly or in twos or threes continuously as the upper structure of the plant proliferates. The corolla is white and five lobed while the anthers are bluish or yellowish in color. The flowers have an open anther formation and will indefinitely self-pollinate. They are also pollinated by insects, which increases the chances of cross-pollination. Unlike tomatoes, whose pollen becomes nonviable in high temperatures, the pepper flowers' pollen is not extremely heat sensitive and it remains viable up to 100° Fahrenheit, allowing fruit to be produced fruit throughout the growing season.
The fruit of a pepper plant is classified as a berry with colors including green, yellow, red, purple, black, brown, white, and orange. Pepper fruit developmental stages are characterized by their colors. Green is the color of an immature fruit, yet green peppers are commonly eaten, and as the fruit matures it changes color. In most commercial cultivars, the color changes are from green to red, green to yellow, or green to orange. In contrast to other pepper varieties, fruits of the purple and white varieties already have these colors as they develop, and therefore do not have a green stage.
Pepper is an important and valuable field crop. Thus, there is a continued need for new pepper varieties that are appealing to consumers and agronomically sound.
In order to meet these needs, the present invention is directed to a new pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant variety named ‘YY5’. This new pepper plant variety is distinguished by its dark yellow color and square shape.
‘YY5’ was originally identified as a naturally occurring mutant in screening trials of plants of pepper variety ‘RY5’ (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 15/732,242), conducted in Ontario, Canada and in Michigan, United States in 2016. The mutant ‘YY5’ was selected based on its yellow color and propagated vegetatively (i.e., asexually).
Further screening trials of naturally occurring mutants of pepper variety ‘RY5’ conducted in Ontario, Canada and Michigan, United States identified further ‘YY5’ peppers. It was subsequently found that when ‘RY5’, a mutant variant of ‘Healey’ (not patented) that produces vertical red and yellow striped colored peppers, is propagated vegetatively, a low percentage of the resulting offspring plants are ‘YY5’.
All ‘YY5’ peppers exhibit the yellow color and vegetative propagation via stem cuttings results in offspring peppers that also exhibit the yellow color. Genetically, all ‘YY5’ peppers appear to have the same mutation. Without wishing to be bound by theory, it is believed that it is a genetic sensitivity in ‘Healey’ that gives rise to the ‘YY5’ mutant exhibiting the yellow color.
The pepper plant variety ‘YY5’ has been asexually reproduced by stem cuttings from farms in Ontario, Canada and Michigan, United States. The distinctive characteristics of pepper plant variety ‘YY5’ have been found to be stable and are transmitted to new pepper plants when asexually propagated.
In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference by study of the following descriptions.